{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/when-tulips-bloom",
 "title": "When Tulips Bloom",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 8,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 12,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "When tulips bloom in Union Square,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And timid breaths of vernal air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go wandering down the dusty town,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Like children lost in Vanity Fair;",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When every long, unlovely row",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of westward houses stands aglow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And leads the eyes to sunset skies",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond the hills where green trees grow;",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then weary seems the street parade,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And weary books, and weary trade:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’m only wishing to go a-fishing;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For this the month of May was made.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I guess the pussy-willows now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are creeping out on every bough",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along the brook; and robins look",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For early worms behind the plough.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The thistle-birds have changed their dun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For yellow coats, to match the sun;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the same array of flame",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Dandelion Show’s begun.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The flocks of young anemones",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are dancing round the budding trees:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who can help wishing to go a-fishing",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In days as full of joy as these?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I think the meadow-lark’s clear sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leaks upward slowly from the ground,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While on the wing the bluebirds ring",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Their wedding-bells to woods around.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The flirting chewink calls his dear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behind the bush; and very near,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where water flows, where green grass grows,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Song-sparrows gently sing, “Good cheer.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And, best of all, through twilight’s calm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hermit-thrush repeats his psalm.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How much I’m wishing to go a-fishing",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In days so sweet with music’s balm!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Tis not a proud desire of mine;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I ask for nothing superfine;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No heavy weight, no salmon great,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To break the record, or my line.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Only an idle little stream,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose amber waters softly gleam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where I may wade through woodland shade,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And cast the fly, and loaf, and dream:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Only a trout or two, to dart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From foaming pools, and try my art:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis all I’m wishing⁠—old-fashioned fishing,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And just a day on Nature’s heart.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}